Archive for the ‘Digital Evidence and High-Tech Crimes’ Category

Lieutenant Josh Moulin supervises the Central Point Police Department’s Technical Services Bureau and is the Commander of the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force. He is one of approximately 470 Certified Forensic Computer Examiner’s worldwide and has been trained by a variety of organizations in digital evidence forensics. Lt. Moulin has also been qualified as an expert witness in the area of computer forensics and frequently teaches law enforcement, prosecutors, and university students about digital evidence.

Beginning his public safety career in 1993, Josh started in the Fire/EMS field working an assortment of assignments including fire suppression, fire prevention, transport ambulance, and supervision. After eight years Josh left the fire service with the rank of Lieutenant and began his law enforcement career. As a Police Officer Josh has had the opportunity to work as a patrol officer, field training officer, officer in charge, arson investigator, detective, and sergeant.

For further information about the Central Point Police Department please visit www.cp-pd.com, and for the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force visit www.hightechcops.com. To reach Sgt. Moulin you can e-mail him at joshm@hightechcops.com.

Online Games and Child Exploitation
From the Case Files of the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force

On Sunday February 24th 2008 I received a phone call at home from an Oregon State Police Detective asking for my assistance with a person they just arrested. The Detective told me that a man was just stopped on Interstate 5 by State Troopers who was a suspect in a kidnapping from California. The suspect had with him some computer equipment and cell phones and the State Police wanted some help with seizing the digital evidence.

I left home and met the State Police Detective at his office. In custody was a male adult named David Anthony Faboo and in protective custody was a 16-year-old female from California. I assisted the State Police by taking possession of all the digital evidence in a forensically sound manner. The Detective briefed me on the case and explained that Faboo was suspected of traveling down to Wheatland California and picking up the 16 year old from her home and brining her back up to Oregon.

The female victim’s parents realized their daughter was missing and called the local police department. Through the course of the Wheatland Police Department’s investigation they began to track the location of the victim girl’s cell phone. During the cell phone tracking it was found her phone was traveling northbound on Interstate 5 near Grants Pass Oregon and the Oregon State Police located the vehicle and stopped it.

Since this case involved the suspect traveling over state lines the Federal Bureau of Investigation from the Sacramento Field Office became the lead agency. During the next several weeks after Faboo’s arrest I sifted through all of the digital evidence and sent a report to the FBI of the findings. The FBI, Wheatland
Police, the Oregon State Police and the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force conducted an extensive investigation. It is alleged that Faboo met the teen girl through the website MySpace.com and through the online game World of Warcraft.

Faboo’s truck had a makeshift bed built by plywood in the back along with knives, rope, condoms, and sex toys (all details made public in this case). It is unknown what Faboo’s true intentions were, but on April 4th 2008 David Anthony Faboo was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on two counts of Transporting a Minor Across State Lines for Purposes of Criminal Sexual Activity. Faboo remains in custody in Sacramento today.

Nearly every electronic gaming system sold on the market today has the ability to be connected to the Internet. Having a game system connected to the Internet allows users to download new games and content, do system upgrades, and to play games against people all over the world. In addition to game systems such as the Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox and Playstation there are many games for computers to be played on the Internet as well.

Most games allow for online communication to occur between players ranging from typed messages to headsets in which the players talk to each other. Being able to communicate with a fellow teammates or to an online enemy can make a game more realistic and help people strategize. It can also introduce children to people who are playing these games for a far more sinister reason, to find their next victim.

Sexual predators will disguise themselves as teenagers playing these games and begin to create online relationships with children. Over time, these sexual predators will begin asking questions that seem harmless to children and teenagers such as the school they attend, their after school schedule, sports activities, what their parents do for work, etc. Coming from “another kid” a child may not see the harm in answering the questions. The reality is that they just may have provided that information to an online sexual predator.

After establishing a rapport with a child, these sexual predators will get them distracted by playing an intense online game and then ask them more specific and personal questions. They know exactly what they are doing and how to get the information they are looking for. If they don’t get it from one child, they’ll quickly move onto the next.

In addition to sexual predators, these online gamming areas can expose children to explicit language and other content that may not be suitable for younger children. It is important that parents realize this potential exists and that kids and teens know who to go to when something happens on the Internet or an online game that makes them feel uncomfortable.

David Faboo is looking at a maximum penalty for his charges of life in prison with a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years. He should be considered innocent unless and until he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Lieutenant Josh Moulin supervises the Central Point Police Department’s Technical Services Bureau and is the Commander of the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force. He is one of approximately 470 Certified Forensic Computer Examiner’s worldwide and has been trained by a variety of organizations in digital evidence forensics. Lt. Moulin has also been qualified as an expert witness in the area of computer forensics and frequently teaches law enforcement, prosecutors, and university students about digital evidence.

Beginning his public safety career in 1993, Josh started in the Fire/EMS field working an assortment of assignments including fire suppression, fire prevention, transport ambulance, and supervision. After eight years Josh left the fire service with the rank of Lieutenant and began his law enforcement career. As a Police Officer Josh has had the opportunity to work as a patrol officer, field training officer, officer in charge, arson investigator, detective, and sergeant.

For further information about the Central Point Police Department please visit www.cp-pd.com, and for the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force visit www.hightechcops.com. To reach Sgt. Moulin you can e-mail him at joshm@hightechcops.com.

How computers are used in Missing Persons cases

Many law enforcement agencies across the United States are incorporating computer forensics into traditional missing persons investigations. There are few things that provide a better window into a person’s life than the hard drive of a computer.

In our digital evidence forensics lab we regularly assist law enforcement agencies who are trying to locate missing people. After obtaining a computer used by the missing person we pour through the hundreds of thousands of files in an attempt to determine who they were last talking to, where they may be going and why they left.

In one particular case our lab assisted in locating an adult female who had been missing for several weeks. We uncovered some deleted Internet history files showing her using Google maps to find places in an adjoining state. We also found deleted files of her using her credit card to purchase travel tickets to a specific area that later proved to be exactly where she was at.

There have been documented cases where the forensic examination of a computer has led to finding a missing person, and in some cases has led to the arrest of a suspect. On the East Coast of the United States a law enforcement agency performed a forensic examination of a computer that belonged to a missing young woman. During the forensic examination, electronic correspondence was found between the missing woman and another person. After court orders were issued to reveal the true identity of the person she was communicating with, police identified the person as a man living in an adjoining state.

When the police arrived at this man’s door and continued their investigation they ultimately discovered the missing woman’s body buried in the backyard.

Other items of interest can be found on a missing person’s computer as well. E-mail messages, blog postings, MySpace comments, online banking activities, computer journals, etc. can all be used to help locate someone.

Sometimes the computer isn’t as important as knowing what accounts are used by a missing person. For example, during a forensic computer examination, online accounts are located such as MySpace, Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. By serving simple subpoenas on these companies information can be obtained about where they are checking their e-mail or logging into a website from. Sometimes this information is particularly useful in runaway cases where a juvenile doesn’t want to be found but continues to check their web-based e-mail accounts while they are on the run.

* * *

The Bulletin Board

Author SJ Rozan is running a contest on her blog http://www.journalscape.com/sjrozan/2008-10-19-08:34. Stop by and win an ARC of her her wonderful new book SHANGHAI MOON. If you’ve never read any of SJ’s books do yourself a favor and pick up a copy right away. She’s a brilliant writer.

This week is urban fantasy week on literary agent/author Lucienne Diver’s blog http://varkat.livejournal.com/ . Today’s post is a wonderful and original short story by author
Rachel Caine. She’ll also have Faith Hunter, Marjorie M. Liu, Laura Anne Gilman, Diana Pharaoh Francis and Susan Wright blogging, among others. By the way, Lucienne has a new book coming out. I had the chance to see the cover art and it’s fantastic.

Don’t forget to enter the 200 word short story contest right here on The Graveyard Shift. Your stories will be judged by Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine editor Linda Landrigan. For details click here.